


Do Gnervoks Celebrate Christmas?

by TaFuilLiom



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28315848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaFuilLiom/pseuds/TaFuilLiom
Summary: Sprinting through emerald fir trees in a garden outlet just three days before Christmas was not how Alex Danvers imagined spending her night off.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer
Comments: 13
Kudos: 79
Collections: Secret Sanvers | A Sanvers Winter Holiday 2020 Event





	Do Gnervoks Celebrate Christmas?

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative title: How Kara found out Maggie and Alex were dating.
> 
> Merry Christmas! 🥳😁

Sprinting through emerald fir trees in a garden outlet just three days before Christmas was not how Alex Danvers imagined spending her night off. 

“Hey!” she shouted, scooting through a gap in the treeline, “Hey, stop!”

The thief she was chasing glanced back, its orange eyes filled with terror. It yanked a shelf down behind it, which she just avoided being clobbered by. Ceramic and glass ornaments smashed at her feet. The shelf clattered to the ground and she leapt over it, heading into the store’s backroom and skidding to a stop. She spied the retreating figure escaping through the door into the alley.

“Dammit,” she swore, gunning right for the door and bursting out into the night air. She twisted left and right, but apart from passing shafts of car light at either end of the alleyway, there was nothing amiss. 

“Not again,” she complained, holstering her weapon.

At the mouth of the alleyway a familiar figure appeared, their pace racketing off the brickwork as they reached where she stood. The runner stopped, searching around, then deflated as they realised the suspect had been able to flee.

Alex watched as Maggie fold at the waist, propping her elbows on her knees and sucking in lungfuls of breath. 

“Dammit, got away again,” she complained haggardly.

“I thought you ran, Sawyer,” Alex teased, crossing her arms over her chest. “You don’t seem so fit.”

Straightening up, Maggie gave her companion an offended squint, chest still heaving. “If I recall, I did most of the sprinting just now.” She bent over again, blowing out a breath. “I never run intervals like that.”

Alex couldn’t help but grin. Even though their suspect had evaded capture, there was still an element of satisfaction in teaming up with Maggie. They worked efficiently, bouncing theories off of each other, ducking and diving through the night for leads. It was, if she was quite honest, fun. 

And if that fun arose from the fact that her partner was now her girlfriend, well...

Maggie hissed as she passed her palm over her knee and stood up again. Alex looked down to see that, in the dash through the store and out around the building, Maggie had ripped her trousers at the knee and had an oozing slice of skin.

“Ow.”

“That looks nasty.” Alex hesitated, then reached out and rubbed Maggie’s bicep. “Let’s get that checked out.”

It had only been a few weeks since Maggie showed up to her apartment, so she forgave herself for the blossoming of validation in her stomach when Maggie smiled at the touch. Everything was still so new, so wonderful.

What wasn’t so wonderful was the aggravated owner of  _ Gary’s Gardens _ striding up through the store and bursting out into the alley with them.

“You didn’t catch it?” His beady eyes swung between them. “You let it get away?”

Maggie assumed the practised, placating stance of an officer dealing with a difficult member of the public. “I can assure you, we will be pursuing this.”

“You think the insurance is gonna believe a green thing ran through this place and broke all those shelves?”

“I’m not really here-”

“No! They’re gonna want the CCTV, they’re gonna want proof, and I know it ain’t that much but it’s almost Christmas!” He blew out a breath and threw up his hands. “No small business wants bad press around such a busy time.”

“Like I said, Mr Barritt, I can assure you we are investigating the multiple instances of theft that have occurred over the last few days.”

But Gary Barritt ignored her and huffed, before retreating back inside his store backroom and slamming the door in their faces. 

While Alex could empathise with his concerns - the other business owners affected by the thefts had complained about the lost Christmas compensation - she couldn’t help but be amused by his vitriol. 

“Fun?” she asked.

“I love serving the public,” was Maggie’s dry reply.

~

“Four days before-”

“Three.”

“ _ Three _ days before Christmas, and five stores have had Christmas trees stolen. This could have been store number six…”

“Except that the owner dates an alien from the bar who knew to call you directly, rather than 911.” Alex clasped the bend of Maggie’s knee and shifted it closer. “Sorry, need to see this at a better angle.”

“Work away.”

Propped back against the driver’s side, Maggie had her leg slung over the gearbox, where Alex was inspecting her knee under the meagre interior light. They were combing through the case, returning back to the beginning again and again, trying to figure out the motives for the petty crime. 

Given that Maggie’s knee was split open, Alex employed the police cruiser’s first aid kit to do her best to clean it. She had fortunately been wearing slacks wide enough to roll up above the knee, but Alex almost thought about asking her to take off her pants. She imagined the invitation registering in Maggie’s eyes, both dark and sparkling with mischief. 

She cleared her throat and continued to gently clean dried blood from the knee cap. “We chased them off…”

“Which confirms it’s an alien.”

“Yeah…” 

Maggie flashed a grin, sifting a hand through her own hair. “Or someone dressing as the Grinch.”

“They’ve gotta be alien. The strength and speed required to clear the trees they’ve cleared.”

“True.” Maggie’s leg twitched away. “Ow.”

“Sorry.”

She balled up the bloodied antiseptic wipe she had been using and bunched it into the empty packet it had come in. Then she reached for a bandaid and gingerly peeled off its plastic cover. She glanced up and, seeing Maggie’s gaze on her, felt confident enough to tease.

“I think you do this just to have me play nurse,” she murmured. 

Maggie’s chuckle was playful, her foot shifting against Alex’s hip. “Maybe I just like your hands on me.”

Alex could feel the heat on the tips of her ears as she turned her attention back to the cut. She gently pressed the bandaid over the now cleaned wound.

“How painful is it?” she asked.

“Kicking in…” 

Alex turned to fiddle with the clasp of the first aid kit as she finished. Her phone bleeped on the dash and she glanced at it, seeing it was from Kara:

_ Alex! We have to go to Noonan’s tomorrow for lunch - they’re doing a christmas surprise _

She rolled her eyes as the phone bleeped again to reveal a plethora of heart-eyed emojis, then a third came through.

_Aaaaand there’s a cute lesbian barista!_ _Superwingwoman ready to report for business!_

She swallowed, the cabin of the cruiser suddenly filled with a pregnant tension. In the rush of Thanksgiving, Medusa, rekindling her friendship with Maggie, coming out to her mother and then Maggie’s confession that she  _ did _ like her...she hadn’t told Kara about them.

It had only been a few weeks, and she had been swept up in the desire and excitement which came with dating a woman she had fallen for so hard and fast. But every bullet train has a stop, no matter how thrilling the speed of the journey.

“What?” Maggie asked.

Alex bit the inside of her lip. Of course her detective girlfriend would notice her clamming up. 

“She’s-” She hesitated over the lie. “Just being dumb.”

“I meant to ask about her actually...”

“Ask away,” Alex said, putting the first aid kit back in the backseat of the cruiser. 

“Have you told her yet? About us?”

She reached up to cut out the interior light, plunging them into darkness. “Not yet.”

Maggie withdrew her leg and shuffled her slacks back down to her ankle. “Oh.”

The note of disappointment dropped down her neck like a splash of cold rain. “It’s not- it’s just-”

“No, I get it,” Maggie assured her. “Don’t rush.”

“She knows I’m gay!” Alex exclaimed. She cleared her throat and lowered her voice, “I just haven’t had the time to tell her I’m seeing someone.”

“Hey.” Maggie settled a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t panic, Alex. Tell her in your own time.”

But Alex was embarrassed: like putting glasses on after drinking her morning coffee and realising she had splashed it across the bench. She had been so caught up in the secrecy, in the unruffled nature of their relationship just being two of them with no interference from superhero sisters. 

“Maggie-”

A grip clamped around her wrist, shutting her up. Her attention shot to Maggie’s face. In the shadows of the dark cruiser, she could see the angles of her girlfriend’s expression as it watched at a fix point. She turned to look out of the windscreen to see a green figure creeping along the sidewalk, wild orange eyes darting about as they made their way towards  _ Gary’s Gardens. _

“He came back.”

~

Gary had swept the broken ornaments into the corner of the store but had not disposed of them yet, so Alex took care not to step on them as she crept towards a frantic rustling sound. In the middle of the firs for sale, she found the alien pawing at a centrepiece display tree, adorned in golden baubles and white lights.

Close to the creature, Alex knew the species immediately: a Gnervok. Tall, green, with those glowing orange eyes - with a very special connection to nature.

“Hey.”

The figure spun in alarm, sending baubles clinking across the floor. Alex held up her hands, spreading her fingers wide so the alien saw she wasn’t a threat. 

“No- don’t panic, please,” she said.

Despite this, it grew more spooked as Maggie appeared from another aisle. The cop was quick to also show her free hands. 

“We aren’t here to hurt you,” she said, “We just want to know what you’re doing here.”

The green figure twisted this way and that, unsure who to keep its focus on. Alex could see the cogs in its mind cranking incrementally the same as her own as she tried to remember as much as she could about Gnervoks. 

“This is a sin,” it eventually croaked, gesturing maniacally around at the fir trees. “You are cutting down Gods! To make elegies!”

And it clicked. Alex recalled the beginning of her training, as she spent hours learning about species and planets she had never imagined. Gnervoks were relatively harmless aliens, though unstable given the culture on Earth towards nature: their planet’s ecosystem was so different that many of its main religions had developed ways to worship the planets and vegetation that did exist.

So for this alien, the idea of hacking trees down en mass to celebrate Christmas must have been horrific.

“I understand that on your planet, trees are sparse and…” She arced her palm at the greenery around them. “This must seem terrifying to you.”

“I had to…” The Gnervok licked its lips, its green fur ruffling in disgust. “Protect what’s left.”

Maggie took a step forward, but didn’t chance any further than that. “How long have you lived in National City?”

“Time is different here.” It squeezed its eyes shut, holding up its foot which had a flashing device strapped to it. “The only reason I can speak this language is this- and I spent the last of my currency on it.”

Alex studied the watch-like device and recognised it from conficasting similar models off suspects brought into the DEO. It was an intergalactic translator, much more advanced than anything on Earth, which could be programmed to thousands of planetary dialectics, including dozens of Earth-based languages. 

“You’ve been stealing the trees,” Alex said, “Because you want to protect them.”

The Gnervok dropped his foot, eyes swelling with tears. “They’re donning their corpses with lights and...and…” He looked down in despair at a silver bauble, and kicked it straight down the aisle in front of him.

“There are a lot of people looking for you,” Maggie said, taking another step closer, “They might want to hurt you.”

The alien shuddered. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“We know,” Alex said, closing in further.

“I just…”

“Do you have anyone here on Earth?” Maggie slipped her phone out of her pocket.

It shook its head. “I didn’t choose to come here. I escaped my traffickers, but I just…”

Again it trailed off, lost for words. Maggie nodded in understanding. “If I write you a time, a date and a location for an alien support group, will you tell us where the stolen stock is?”

It shrugged. “They are in a warehouse.”

Alex stepped forward again, closer all the time. "Maggie can put you in touch with people who can help you adjust to Earth'a culture and landscape."

Maggie nodded. "They can find you a safe place to stay, maybe even try to get you home."

The Gnervok's orange eyes flew wide open in hope. "They can?"

“But if you don’t turn up. I can’t help you,” Maggie warned.

The Gnervok’s eyes flicked to Alex, like it could sense she wasn’t part of the deal, like she was the threat of the alternative.

“Okay,” they said quietly.

“No more stealing trees?" 

“No more. I promise.”

He made a gesture of touching his stomach and then his shoulders, which Alex had learned was an honourable salute. Then he began to rifle around.

“I think saw a pen and piece of paper somewhere.”

The Gnervok began patting down an adjacent shelf as Maggie wandered over to Alex and bumped her elbow, giving a toothy grin. 

“Look, no black-bagging DEO tactics required.”

~

Gary Barritt angrily punched in the security code, muttering about the useless women who let the elusive thief go again. Alex crossed her arms, sitting back on the hood of Maggie’s cruiser and wondering what he would think when he watched back the CCTV footage and realised they had confronted the alien and  _ then _ let him go.

“Think he'll come?” Maggie asked, softly knocking her knuckles in a syncopated rhythm on the hood.

"I hope so," Alex said, "I don't want to spend the next three days running after him."

"Maybe next year, he'll celebrate Christmas instead."

Alex snorted at the thought of the tall, slender green alien enjoying a turkey dinner. She waved when Gary turned around to give them a disgusted look. He slunk inside of his store and once again slammed the door. 

Maggie sighed and stopped her drumming. “I meant it, Alex.” 

She frowned. “What?”

“Take your time with telling Kara.”

Alex blinked, then turned to see the sincerity on Maggie’s face. She shook her head. “Maggie, it’s not about taking my time. I just got swept up in us and I just…”

“Wanted it to be between us a little longer?”

She nodded. “My sister can be  _ really _ annoying.”

And then Maggie’s face bloomed as she laughed, in that way that never failed to make Alex’s stomach clench, and she just had to lean down and kiss her. Maggie made a soft noise and slid her hands around Alex’s waist to drag her in closer.

They could have gotten lost in each other, as two lovers choose to fall with every kiss and touch tentatively shared, writing each new line to their story. 

But someone clearing their throat interrupted their pen. 

They broke apart to see a superhero donned in red and blue, arms crossed over their house insignia, eyebrow raised expectantly. 

“K-?” The night air exacerbated the blush in her cheeks as Alex shook her head. “What are you doing here Supergirl?”

“I heard the alarms going off and thought there was an emergency,” Supergirl replied tersely. 

Her brain scrambled from kissing, Alex was torn between trying to play the kiss off as if it was nothing for her sister’s benefit, or puffing up her chest in the presence of Supergirl for Maggie’s benefit. 

Not waiting for her to make the decision, Maggie leaned up and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you later.” 

Wordlessly, she felt Kara’s eyes on her as Maggie gave a weak smile, got into the driver’s side, started the engine, and pulled away into the night. She watched the cruiser’s taillights until it turned right and left her sight. 

Kara kicked at a loose piece of tarmac with her boot. “So you  _ are _ seeing someone?”

Alex let her shoulders drop, the cat out of the bag and running up the street after Maggie’s cruiser. “Yeah, I am seeing someone.”

“And that someone is  _ Maggie _ .”

“Kara.”

“Maggie. Who broke your heart. Maggie.”

_“_ Kara, she _didn’t-_ ”

But her sister’s pout showed more dissatisfaction at being out of the loop than the knowledge of the details. Still, it was a powerful guilt trip. 

“Stop pouting at me, Kara.”

“I-” Kara dropped her opposition and ran her palm over her forehead. “Just don’t want you to get hurt again.”

Alex slung an arm around her shoulder and spun her in the direction of a familiar cafe. 

“Noonan’s opens late tonight,” she said, “How about we get some of that Christmas surprise, and I’ll tell you all about it?”


End file.
